


Your Flavor

by Socchan



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Baking, Blanket Permission, Cookies, F/M, Fluff, Gift Giving, Identity Porn, Ladrien | Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng as Ladybug, Light Angst, Marichat | Adrien Agreste as Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug has ADHD, Podfic Welcome, Rat Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Multimouse - Freeform, Snake Adrien Agreste | Aspik, for flavor, just a pinch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-07
Updated: 2020-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:27:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23046274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Socchan/pseuds/Socchan
Summary: When the Dupain-Cheng Bakery starts selling cookies themed after the local Miraculous users, Cat Noir is delighted—right up until he realizes that, because the cookies are only based onpublicly knownidentities, one of his favorite superheroes will inevitably be left out. To fix the problem, he goes straight to the source, and one of the only other people who knows this particular superhero even exists.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 68
Kudos: 741





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by my [Miraculous](https://soc-puppet.dreamwidth.org/676678.html) [Confections](https://soc-puppet.dreamwidth.org/677089.html) discussions, and AlexSeanchai pointing out a certain fact about who was likely to be included in the lineup.

An hour after Marinette had finally managed to make herself turn out the lights, her attempt to get some _actual sleep_ for once in her life was interrupted by an unexpected tapping noise. She scrunched up her nose at the sound. _Probably just some animal on my balcony,_ she decided, and rolled over to give sleep another shot. The rapping came again, louder this time. Frowning, Marinette opened bleary eyes to glare out her balcony window, only to squawk and roll off the side of her bed in surprise.

There, silhouetted against the night sky with eyes glowing green in the low light, was Cat Noir.

With a sideways glance to make sure that Tikki was hiding (she was), Marinette clambered to her feet and over to the window. "What are you doing here?" she demanded, prying it open. "My phone hasn't gone off, so it can't be a supervillain attack, and I have no idea why else you'd be knocking on my window at 23h30! You could wake up my parents, and in case you didn't notice, we run a _bakery_ ; early mornings are kind of mandatory!"

The look on Cat's face had her considering switching him to the Ram Miraculous for a week or two. "Actually, it's kinda related to that," he said.

Marinette's eyes narrowed. "Go on..."

"You know those new Miraculous Heroes cookies you started selling here?"

"And two villain cookies," Marinette said, nodding; the Hawkmoth and Mayura flavors didn't sell _quite_ as well as most of their others, but customers seemed to take extra relish in biting them into pieces.

"Right," Cat agreed, before his expression went more serious. "Well, it occurred to me that, since you're only really making them for publicly-known Miraculous users, there's one hero who probably won't be getting her own flavor. A hero that I really think deserves one, even if she can't really help out anymore." He looked away and mumbled, "Especially since that's kind of my fault."

Marinette's conscience twinged; she couldn't actually tell her partner that he wasn't to blame for the fact that Multimouse was out of commission. She'd gone out of her way to make sure he _didn't_ know that Marinette had other superhero duties—as someone he saw a lot more often, in fact. "I guess I could come up with some Multimouse flavored cookies," she said, relenting. "Just for Paris' favorite kitty-cat."

He perked up immediately. "Really?"

She smiled crookedly and pushed his nose back out her window with one finger. "Yes, really. Come back in a week, at a _reasonable_ hour, and I should have something for you."

Beaming, Cat seized her right hand in both of his and squeezed it tightly. "Thanks, Princess! You're the best!"

Marinette blushed and made a shooing motion. "Get out of here, you alleycat! And get some sleep; you need to be rested if you're going to be fighting supervillains!"

With a final wink, Cat Noir saluted Marinette, then bounded off across the Parisian rooftops. Marinette watched him go, an amused smile on her lips. "Goof." Yawning, she closed the window and turned back to her bed; with any luck, it wouldn't be too much longer before she finally fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I fought this fic's inclination to be multi-chaptered rather than a oneshot for faaar too long before finally giving in tonight. Second part is mostly done, I'll post it when I'm at least half-way through the third part.
> 
> If you want to talk recipes, please do so at the [Miraculous](https://soc-puppet.dreamwidth.org/676678.html) [Confections](https://soc-puppet.dreamwidth.org/677089.html) posts on Dreamwidth; anonymous commenting is on, I just want to keep everything in one place.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to norakwami, ghostlyhamburger, and incredibleflan for helping come up with the Multimouse cookie flavor!

At 18h the next week, Marinette set up to do her homework on her balcony and wait for Cat Noir, a box of cookies at her side. She'd started brainstorming cookie ideas the morning after his previous visit, and, after some trial and error, had finally landed on something she thought both tasted good and represented her other superhero alter-ego.

She'd thought briefly about including her parents in the process, but eventually decided against the idea. While it would have been nice to reveal at least _one_ superhero identity to her parents, and a good low-stakes way to test the waters for if she ever had to reveal her identity to them as Ladybug, it was still too dangerous for them to know—and if she tried to come out as a superhero they'd never even heard of, even with Cat Noir backing her up, the whole thing might lead to them accidentally connecting dots that were all too correct for her liking.

Then there was the possibility that they'd have gone overboard in their enthusiasm, redecorating the bakery in a Multimouse theme and gushing about their new favorite superhero to anyone who would listen—or at least making sure that the Multimouse cookies were part of the regular lineup, complete with explanation. Marinette could easily imagine Lila finding out from there and, without a trace of irony, suggesting that Marinette had made the whole thing up for attention.

Really, Marinette decided, it was easier just to come up with the flavor on her own. She glanced at the box on her right; there were easily two dozen cookies in there, waiting to be whisked away by her partner, and she really did like the flavor she'd eventually settled on. Surely he wouldn't miss just one or two...

"Princess!"

"ACK—!" Marinette flailed in surprise, almost falling out of her chair before Cat Noir caught her hand and pulled her up out of it. She glared at him, taking her hand back. "I swear, you're worse than Adrien," she grumbled, blushing slightly.

"Ah, my a- _paw_ -logies, Marinette," he said, grinning. He looked from her to the table she'd been sitting at. "By any chance, would those be my cookies in that box there?"

She rolled her eyes. "All yours," she told him, sliding the box closer. "Why don't you take a look and tell me what you think? Maybe try one while you're at it."

Cat loosened the lid and peered inside. "Oooooh! They're so cute! It's _purr_ -fect!" He pulled one out and turned it over in his claws. "Are those... Oreo chunks in there?"

Marinette nodded. "Cookies and cream seemed like a good match for Multimouse's grays, and the fact that it's lots of little cookies that make up a bigger cookie worked really well, too. Conceptually, I mean. And the dough itself is plum blossom flavored."

He blinked at her, his eyebrows going up. "Not strawberry? I thought that would be a natural fit."

"I thought about it," Marinette confessed. "I really do love strawberry cookies, but Ladybug's are already strawberry flavor." And having nearly identical cookies to Ladybug would be skirting entirely too close to an identity reveal for her liking—not that she could tell him that. "Plum blossom flavor works as a nod to my Chinese heritage, and it's a little harder to find around here, a little more rare."

"That makes sense," Cat said, nodding. "Plus, you deserve to have your own unique flavor of cookie. I may love Ladybug, but you're just as special in a lot of ways, Marinette, and you deserve to stand out." He broke a piece off of the cookie, popped it in his mouth, and closed his eyes to savor the taste, completely missing Marinette's face turning bright red. She barely managed to get it down to a light blush by the time he finished chewing and opened his eyes again. "These are great! I'll have to save one for Ladybug to try, and one for her to give to the rat kwami; I'll bet they'd love to taste them."

"Welcome you! I mean, you're welcome!" Marinette replied, still fighting her blush. "And... thanks for asking for them. It was nice, remembering being Multimouse and coming up with a flavor to represent her—me—us? Ugh! You know what I mean."

Cat laughed. "Entirely too well! Now, how much do I owe you for these? I took a glance at your parents' pricing scheme, and it looks like there's about two dozen in here—"

"Oh _no_ , you don't," Marinette interrupted. "Don't think I don't know about how you keep talking up my parents' bakery whenever you get a chance! _And_ , whenever you stop by for a cookie, we always find an envelope stuffed with twice the cost shoved in the mailbox by the end of the day, no matter _how_ often we tell you that they're on the house! You're taking these ones for free if I have to shove them down your suit and drop-kick you off the roof to do it!"

He held up his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay, you win! I'll take the cookies without paying." He winked. "Can't have my favorite baker getting akumatized over this, after all!"

"Good!" She shoved the box into his empty arms, then dusted her hands off. "Now, scat! Not that it wasn't nice to see you, but I've got homework to finish."

Still laughing, Cat Noir tucked the box of cookies under one arm and vaulted off into the city. Marinette smiled after him a moment longer before turning back to her homework; she hadn't been kidding about needing to finish it.

The next morning, Marinette discovered _not_ an envelope of money on her balcony table, but instead a waterproof bag containing several yards of high-end fabric in pink, white, gray, and black. Inside the bundle was a square of paper with a black paw print drawn on it. "Well played, Cat Noir," Marinette said. "Well played."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter to go! It's mostly done, so hopefully it'll be up soon!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With thanks to norakwami and alexseanchai for cookie flavor element suggestions.

_"Ladybug, catch!"_

_"Cat, what—ah, got it! What's this?"_

_"They're Multimouse cookies! Like the other ones for sale at the Dupain-Cheng Bakery. I thought—well, she's not actually a part of the team, but she still played an important part in our lives, so I asked Marinette to make some as a favor. There's one for you, and one for Multimouse's kwami."_

_"...Thank you, Cat. That was very thoughtful of you."_

_"My Lady?"_

_"Oh, I was just thinking that it might be nice to do for someone else, that's all. Anyway, it's time for patrol; let's get going!"_

_"After you, my Lady!"_

\-----

It was late afternoon when she swung by, Nathalie and Gabriel thoroughly occupied with business matters and the Gorilla reading in the foyer. Adrien had opened his window to let in the breeze, and it proved a fair entryway to Ladybugs as well. He didn't immediately notice when she came in, absorbed in his piano practice, and she waited patiently for him to finish. It wasn't long before he came to a stopping point and pushed back from the piano to stretch; he jerked in surprise when she started to applaud. "Ladybug!" he cried, stumbling to his feet.

"Sorry," Ladybug said. "I didn't mean to startle you! Your playing was so nice, though, I didn't want to interrupt, either."

"Oh, uh, thank you." Adrien ran a hand through his hair, his cheeks warming, and began straightening the music sheets nervously. "So, what brings you here today? Not that I'm not happy to see you—it's always wonderful to see you! I'm just, curious?"

Ladybug bit her lip, then held out a Dupain-Cheng Bakery box to him. "I have something for you," she told him. "It's not much, but, well... I wanted to thank you for everything you did as Aspik."

Adrien stared at her. "But... I didn't do anything." His voice cracked. "I failed you."

"No!" Her response was immediate. "That's not true," she continued, more quietly but no less passionate. "I'm the one who failed _you_. I knew that we needed Cat Noir to beat Desperada, but I insisted that we try anyway without him; I ended up putting you in an impossible situation because I followed my heart instead of my head. You did everything you could and went above and beyond what I could have asked, even more than I had a right to ask of you in the first place." She took a deep breath. "So I talked with Marinette Dupain-Cheng; I think you know her? I told her all about Aspik, and how hard he worked to help me." Her smile turned slightly self-deprecating. "We couldn't fit twenty-five thousand, nine hundred and thirteen cookies in a box, but she said that she's willing to make more for you whenever you want them."

She watched him as Adrien took the box and lifted the lid; inside he found two dozen pale blue-green cookies drizzled with bright yellow icing. Carefully, he lifted one to his mouth and bit into it, letting the flavor spread over his tongue. "They're honeydew melon and cornflower flavored," Ladybug told him, "with a passionfruit icing to balance out the sweetness. I asked Marinette if she could come up with something that would be nice to eat over and over again, but neither of us is sure how well it worked."

Adrien swallowed his mouthful of cookie, licking the traces of passionfruit icing from his lips and blinking rapidly to clear his eyes. "Thank you," he said, pouring his heart into each word. "They're amazing; _you're_ amazing."

Ladybug smiled at him and Adrien's heart thudded wildly in his chest. Surely his eyes were playing tricks on him; that _couldn't_ be a blush just under the outline of her mask. "I should get going," she said. "Let you get back to practicing."

"Wait, please." Adrien reached into the cookie box and held one out to Ladybug. "For Sass. Tell him I said 'hi'."

Their fingers brushed as she took the cookie from him, her bluebell eyes meeting his own green ones. "Thank you, I will. And I still think you'd make a great superhero; maybe someday I'll get another chance to show you." Tucking the cookie into her yoyo, Ladybug turned and vaulted out the window, waving one last time before she was out of sight.

Adrien sighed dreamily after her. Finishing the cookie, he turned back to the piano and began to play again. Plagg materialized beside him, already munching on a cookie of his own. "You know, aside from the lack of cheese, these aren't half bad," the kwami said. "I think they'd go pretty good with those other ones you ordered. The Mari-mouse ones."

Adrien glanced at Plagg, a small smile curling his lips. "You think? Maybe I'll try them together sometime, then." And maybe someday, if he was lucky, Aspik and Multimouse would get a chance to fight side-by-side in public, too.

—Fin—

**Author's Note:**

> Please check my profile for my permission statement regarding further transformations. Anyone who does anything with this (following my guidelines, and especially including podficcers) is allowed to use Chat instead of Cat for their work, no need to ask me.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Your Flavor[PODFIC]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27975274) by [bakanation (ShipperTrash08)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShipperTrash08/pseuds/bakanation), [ShipperTrash08](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShipperTrash08/pseuds/ShipperTrash08)




End file.
